The BFP Roundtable takes on the public apathy surrounding the illegal wars of aggression, the extrajudicial drone assassinations, the illegal warrantless wiretapping, and other outrages of our era. Why is the public so passive in the face of such abuses? And what can be done about it? Find out more in this must-see BFP Roundtable discussion.

Here is Where the USA Should Top the List: the International Quota for Political Refugees

I don’t know how you feel about surveys, ranking or indexes, but whether you follow them or not, you must be aware of how we’ve been falling steadily as a nation. Those of you who follow lists-surveys and global indexes, let’s admit it- as a nation we have not been going up on most global ranking lists - in fact, just the opposite.

We have been going down on the list of the World’s Least Corruption Nations-way down. We have been dropping continuously when it comes to our ranking in the education arena. We have been dropping royally when it comes to Healthcare Systems. When it comes to World Press Freedom, we are embarrassingly low, behind Cape Verde, Cyprus, and even trailing Mali, Tanzania, El Salvador, Botswana and Comoros!! We didn’t even make it onto the ridiculous list of the top ten nations’ national happiness index. [Read more...]

In this episode of Boiling Frogs Post Show roving journalist and author Pepe Escobar joins us for an intense roller-coaster of discussion on topics ranging from the recent revelations on the NSA illegal wiretapping, Apathy USA, pathetic US Media, the uprising in Turkey, and Syria. Don’t miss this episode bringing Dangerous minds into a passionate discussion!

As the unending back-to-back scandals unfold, from the arrest and prosecution of courageous truth-tellers (aka whistleblowers), to the illegal wiretapping of all Americans, torture, indefinite detentions, the groping and handling of travelers, utilizing the IRS as the government’s hit-men and thugs … I am asked to provide statements, interpretations and/ or explanations as to what it is we are facing as a nation today. Some seek my opinion on what it is we are fighting against; on whom it is we are fighting against. After all, I am that government whistleblower- the one who has been fighting these same enemies and their recurring assaults, one way or another, in courts or congress or executive halls or the media, for twelve years, on and off-and to no avail.

I guess those experiences must make me some sort of an expert- on the illusion of pursuing justice in the US federal courts, on the naivety of expecting the US Congress to fulfill its theoretical responsibilities, on the futility of expecting real journalism from what is known as the US media … Because: Once upon a time, for over a decade, I was that relentless naïve sucker under the illusion of America the land of the pretty much free and the nation more-or-less governed by the Constitution.

Thanks to truth-telling insiders, we now know that the NSA has consistently and systematically broken the law in its surveillance activities, and in fact that these programs started before 9/11, which served merely as a justification for bringing them into the public spotlight. Sadly, if unsurprisingly, these whistleblowers have not been recognized as the heroes that they are. Quite the contrary, they have been shunned, marginalized, swept under the rug, and even prosecuted for attempting to shine the light on the NSA’s illegality, fraud, waste and corruption.

In this third episode of our EyeOpener Report James Corbett presents the National Security Agency, the whistleblowers who have exposed the agency’s unconstitutional and criminal operations, the attempts to silence and prosecute these whistleblowers, and even worse - the treatment these whistleblowers have received at the hands of the general public.

Once upon a time an evil witch visits a kingdom and poisons the central well with a potion that drives people mad. The next morning all who drink from that well go crazy. The king, however, knew about this in advance, and didn’t drink from the communal well. The next day, those who drank the poisoned water came to the king and accused him of being the crazy one. The king, aware of what had transpired, was faced with a dilemma: drink from the well and lose his sanity like the rest of his subjects, but remain king; or don’t drink, remain sane, but be swept from power by those who would view his very sanity as madness.

Today in our nation those who refrain from drinking from the well poisoned by the establishment witches are categorized, marginalized, and labeled extremists, crazies, conspiracy theorists, and other adjectives along the same lines:

The political candidate who choose to run as a ‘people’s candidate,’ not the establishment candidate representing this special interest or that foreign interest’s agenda, is referred to as an extremist.

Those groups who fight for accountability and demand justice are dismissed as radicals.

Those in government who dare to come forward, speak up, and tell the truth are labeled as disgruntled whistleblowers.

Those activists who dare to ask for ‘real’ investigations in matters such as 9/11 are grouped and stuffed in a bucket as insane conspiracy theorists.

We have the witches of the establishment pouring the poisoned concoction into the communal wells. Maybe a little bit of pseudo patriotism mixed with a fair amount of fear-mongering laced with dependency-inducing barbitals topped with fluffy fantasy puffs. Maybe three portions of false security shaken with two portions of false prosperity hallucinogenic elixir blended with a shot of apathy-enhancing liquor. Maybe all of the above and more.

Equally if not more importantly we have the poison-water bearers. After all, the objective of poisoning the majority is too important to be left to chance. What if some decide to collect rainwater instead of going to the well? What if some chose river water over well water? You see, for the poisoned well plot to work, most if not all should drink from the poisoned wells, so what better way to ensure than having water bearers deliver to most if not all. The mainstream poison-water-bearers do just that: take the water poisoned by the establishment witches, put it into easy-to-swallow portions and easy-to-drink containers, and then deliver it to as many people as they can. Think establishment witches’ 9/11-national security state-wars concoction, and then think New York Times and Washington Post. You see how it works? Right. You take the establishment poisons, mainstream media poisons-bearers, and you get a whole a lot of poisoned people acting crazy as hell. And if by any chance you have refrained from drinking, then you better be ready to be singled out, pointed to, and called a nut and a crazy.